Musculoskeletal pain is a major concern in athletes, and its associated disability may contribute to a significant loss of productivity and substantial health-care expenditure. Musculoskeletal pain and disability represent a considerable health burden in the athletic world. Acute musculoskeletal pain generally lasts for a shorter time. The recurrences are frequent. Early intervention and the management of acute pain may reduce the chance of developing it into chronic. Clinical assessment comprising subjective and objective examination is essential to identify the clinical features of severe but rare causes of acute musculoskeletal pain. In most of the clinical conditions, it is difficult to determine the precise cause and management of musculoskeletal pains in the athletic population. Interventions such as manual therapy, electrotherapy modalities, exercises, and active lifestyle maintenance are found to be effective in the management of acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain.

Background: Perceived stress negatively affects cardiovascular functions and body fat distribution.
Aims: The aim is to study whether participants with greater central fat have altered autonomic activity in response to novel laboratory stress challenges and whether they adapt less effectively to repeated stress challenges over time.
Materials and Methods: Two hundred and forty-four healthy adults within the age group 20–45 years were divided into eight groups consisting of 30–31 participants in each group on the basis of sex, body mass index, and waist–hip ratio (WHR). Resting pulse rate and blood pressure were measured. All participants had to go through two stress sessions. Stress sessions were arranged according to trier social stress test. Pulse, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate variability (root mean square of successive differences), and capillary blood glucose were measured on three consecutive occasions, -at rest, immediately after stress session 1 (day 1), and immediately after stress session 2 (day 2).
Results: Among lean males and lean females, there was significant difference in blood glucose level between high WHR group and low WHR group after stress session 1 and after stress session 2. Among overweight participants, no significant difference in heart rate variability was observed between high WHR group and low WHR group after stress session 1 and after stress session 2. However, in lean participants, significant difference was observed between high WHR group and low WHR group after stress session 1 and after stress session 2. Significant difference in pulse rate and DBP was observed in lean participants between high- and low-WHR groups after stress session 1 and after stress session 2.
Conclusions: Central fat among lean participants may be an indicator of the allostatic load which contributes to physical damage resulting from lack of adaptation to stress. Thus, lean participants with high WHR may be at higher risk of disease.

Background: Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain. It is characterized by pain in the heel, especially with the first walking in the morning or after a long period of rest. Cryotherapy was the common treatment method used for soft tissue injuries. There is poor literature on the application of cryotherapy on plantar fasciitis.
Aim of the Study: The aim of the study was to identify the effect of cryotherapy along with dynamic stretching on pain and foot function in plantar fasciitis individuals.
Study Design: This was a quasi-experimental study involving 34 ramblers; all were selected based on the selection criteria.
Methodology: The study was conducted for 8 weeks. Participants were divided into two groups. Experimental group underwent cryotherapy for 20 min followed by dynamic stretching to the calf muscles and the plantar fascia for 15 min. Control group received dynamic stretching for 15 min. Outcome variables in the study are pain and foot function. Pain was measured by numerical pain rating scale and foot function by foot function index.
Statistical Analysis: Student's t-test was used to analyze the data collected during the study. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 20.0 was used with P < 0.05.
Results: Result of the study shows that pain was 7.72 ± 0.689 with P ≤ 0.05 and the foot function index was 10.6 ± 3.85.
Conclusion: This study concluded that there was a significant improvement in group who underwent cryotherapy and dynamic stretching.

Nasikagra Drishti to enhance the selective attention on performance of six-letter cancelation task by young adults

p. 17

S Madankumar, M KalpanadeviDOI:10.4103/sjsm.sjsm_7_19

Background: Nasikagra Drishti (ND), literally called as nose tip gazing, is one among the several practices in yoga. It comes under the Dharana division. Selective attention (SA) is an important function governed by the right frontoparietal cortex. The cancelation task requires visual selectivity as well as repetitive and coordinated motor responses. Six-letter cancelation task (SLCT) is effective in assessing functions, such as SA, visual scanning, inhibition and activation of rapid responses, and focused attention. Assessing SA among the young adults is highly helpful in evaluating their academic performance.
Objective: The objective of the study is to assess the immediate and later effects of ND on SA in young adults using SLCT.
Subjects and Methods: Thirty young adults of both sexes with 18.9 ± 1 years of mean age volunteered for the study. The SLCT data were collected before (pre), immediately after first session of the intervention (1st post), and after the 3rd-day intervention (2nd post) of ND.
Results: The Student's t-test using STATA 12.0 (College station, Texas, USA) showed a significant increase in SA scores after the ND practice. The pre and immediate post values within the group were statistically significant at P < 0.001. The pre and later post (follow-up results) values within the group are also statistically significant at P < 0.001. However, the magnitude of change was more in the later postassessment than the preassessment and the immediate postassessment. Thus, it was revealed that ND practice can increase SA and thereby improves the academic performance.
Conclusion: The present study suggests that the practice of ND may enhance SA among young adults and thus may prove beneficial for their academic performance. Additional well-designed studies are needed before a strong recommendation can be made on the efficacy of ND for enhancing SA, thereby improving academic performance.

Investigation of the effects of sporting activities on educational life of students in the Faculty of Dentistry, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey

p. 21

Alper Ozdogan, Ozge SancaktarDOI:10.4103/sjsm.sjsm_8_19

Background: The effects of sports activities on educational life of students in the Faculty of Dentistry, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey, was aimed in this study.
Materials and Methods: A questionnaire that contains 16 questions was applied to totally 100 dental students (Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey) who were joined the sports activities. The questions were included in age, sex, student type, ports-related interests, part-time work (number of hours per week), leisure activities, and Likert scale questions about to focused on investigating stress levels. The data were analyzed with descriptive, crosstabs, Chi-square, and independent sample t-tests and Spearman's correlation test.
Results: The results showed that there was no statistically significant association between any of the variables and stress levels (P > 0.05). However, the mean values and distributions of the variables vary and give numerical results.
Conclusion: Although sporting activities do not adversely affect students' lessons, they help to reduce stress levels.